Slashdot Mirror
Body Adornments and a Career?
termilitor asks: "I was thinking about decorating myself with a tatoo. The only argument that holds me back is whether this will affect my career of a mathematician / computer programmer negatively. I would like to ask readers of the Slashdot if they have such experiences, including other types of self decoration, like body piercings and dyeing hair." It's always important to look professional when in the work-environment. The big question, of course, is how many of you believe such things are mutually-exclusive. Wearing a tattoo is a non-issue with the right clothes, but what about piercings and hair coloring? Can a happy medium exist between self-expression and the professional environment?
You can definitely find places to work that don't let appearances get in the way.
Two years ago, I interviewed for a systems engineering job, supporting a development team and the production environment their code runs on... I had a mohawk at the time. Last year as we were moving offices, a coworker found some year-old notes from a meeting a year earlier--with the one-liner "Hire the mohawk" in the middle of the page. Two years and an acquisition later, I'm still around, and worked my way up to driving IT for the whole comapany.
The new IT guy we just hired is covered in ink from the elbows up, and from neck to waist... came in as a referral from an employee, and we couldn't have found a better guy if we'd searched for six months.
All in a company whose senior management is decidedly old-school... I'm talking doctors and lawyers, here.
So yeah, you can find places. A lot of people will give you shit for going with the "if they don't want me the way I am, then I wouldn't enjoy working for them anyway"... but you know what? It's the truth. And as long as you're willing to take the risk of NOT finding somewhere that will accept you (or at least, taking a while to find somewhere), then you're in good shape. Especially if you're single. Having to worry about a spouse and kids totally changes your priorities.
So my advice is to be yourself. Just make sure you really mean it when you think "fuck them if they don't like it".
Who cares what the tat looks like a few days out of the studio, under the proper lighting?
There are 30-60 year old people everywhere with fading ugly blotches on the skin that they thought were great when they got them.
A tattoo just screams insecurity. "I've gotta do something permanent to my skin, to show that I'm really serious about 'whatever' culture that I'm involved with right now."
Note that the story submitter was probably not looking for a career where he is treated like an interchangeable cog. Frequently, when I give my boss "shit", it ends up saving a significant amount of labor. In a creative field, the person with a novel opinion and courage to voice it is not necessarily a liability.
Java: the COBOL of the new millenium.
I'm not going to take a chance on offending or bothering a lawyer client or a retail customer who may be a fundamentalist or a member of any other group with prejudices against non-conformists. As said elsewhere, it doesn't matter what I think. It matters what others (customers and clients) think.
What about clients with prejudices against black, female and/or homosexual people? Do you also support those prejudices for the sake of business?
I expect you don't, although you may as many do. If you don't, where do you draw the line at what is "acceptable" prejudice?
-- Jamie
I got a tatoo when I was 21 on my right bicep. If I wear a long or short sleave shirt (the type with a collar), it can't be seen. When my employers eventually saw it, they were not concerned. This is because wearing normal work attire, it is invisible.
I also got a tongue piercing, and it took a week for it to be noticed by my employers. They didn't seem to mind, and I was still allowed to meet clients because it wasn't obviously visible. I ended up taking it out (after a year) because I didn't want to chip my teeth.
I also dyed my hair black (from dark brown)... it wasn't a big change and my employers didn't mind.
If you do get something done, don't make a big deal about it. Get it done for personal reasons, not to impress your colleagues. Don't go to extremes, be subtle and decorate a location on your body that is hidden by business clothing, but not by recreational clothing (if possible).
PS: Don't EVER get a girl's name on a tatoo... If you want to impress her, get a heart tatoo and write her name across it every day with a permanent marker. You *will* thank me one day.
you should find some older person whose tattoos are
a couple decades old.
take a close look at that 20-year-old tattoo.
really. you want that?
it may look fresh and lovely when it's new --
but it's not always gonna be new.
Wait a minute. Didn't I say that on the other side of the record? I'd better check
Good post.
I worked for an IT company that was sold to IBM, with all employees becoming IBMers.
A large portion of our firm, including me, were young and "hip". I had a nose and eyebrow ring, others had dyed hair, wild haircuts, or tattoos.
We stuck out like a sore thumb in IBM, a company that suits the description of borg-like grey drones far more than MS does.
After around 2 years it became clear people with less talent but better suits were getting promotions we should be getting.
Most of us started to clean up our image to get promotions, the ones that didn't ended up in dead end jobs blaming society rather than their inability to wear a long sleeved shirt to cover up their tats.
Self expression is a great thing, as long as whatever you do can be covered up, or will heal when you get bored with it. Many companies don't care what you look like, many, especially bigger blue chip corps do care. At some point you may want to work for such a company even if you don't now, so don't do anything too drastically permanent to your appearance
I really can't see how a tattoo can affect your career, unless showering with the CEO is mandatory, or you're planning to decorate your forehead or hands with neo nazi slogans.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. --Albert Einstein
I've got several large tattoos - 6 in total which are all covered by my normal clothing. I'm fairly certain that most of the company knows these exist after drunking nights out - but I've never really shown them at work, and nobody has every commented.
Piercings are pretty much the same. At the moment I have 12 piercings, and I see a colleague across the other side of the office with a lone eyebrow piercing.
I guess if I had a customer facing position things would be different - but hiding around in the office my Septum (middle of the nose; like a bull!) piercing doesn't give me anything to worry about.
(I'm annoyed I had to lose the tongue piercing I've had for the past 8 years recently for unrelated reasons. *grumbles*)
I think if you're good at your job and haven't got really uptight employers a ring or tattoo here or there isn't likely to cause any problems - it's only if you've got a load of "obvious" mods that folk might get the wrong idea and judge you upon appearence more than necessary.
I've lived overseas for a while now, and it is most refreshing to see beautiful women who don't mutilate themselves with nose holes or tattoos. Pure, whole, untouched skin is far more sexy than any butterfly on the ankle or bookend flourish on the small of the back.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!